As an exercise, I decided to play with some numbers with frugality in mind.

Let's talk about gasoline.  One tankful (assume a 16 gallon tank) of gasoline per week at a service station that is $0.15 per gallon cheaper will save you $125 per year.  Using conservation methods will save you even more.

Now coffee.  Buying a $1.50 coffee at Dunkin Donuts as opposed to $4.50 at Starbucks and assuming 240 work days, saves you $720 per year.  Making it at home assuming gourmet coffee at $0.50 per cup, saves you $960 per year.  That coffee probably tastes better too.  (while I am not a coffee drinker, I know any at homemade food and drink means better ingredients, lower costs, and of course, better taste).

Going out to eat.  By cutting one $50 meal outside the home per month and assuming a $10 cost for a homemade meal saves you $480 per year.

Oh, bottled water!  Using a canteen with the filtered water from the tap (probably the same water as the bottled water), and assuming one bottle of bottled water at $1 per bottle per day saves you $365 per year.

Washing your car yourself once per month, instead of paying $10 per wash saves you $120 per year (our well water is free).

The reality hits when you add up all the small expenditures and annualize them-- they don't seem so small anymore, but let's go further . . .

Want to really be disturbed?  Let's look at that extra $960 you are giving to Starbucks because you don't make it at home.  Assume for a moment that you make just $50,000 per year and after taxes you clear $40,000 per year.  That extra $960 is 2% of your after tax hard earned income.  Is it really worth it?  Looking at it from a percent of discretionary income-- it gets even worse.

I will bet that if you add up all the "extras" you pay for by not doing it yourself, you probably blow more than 10% of your after tax income . . .I would also bet you aren't saving.  Imagine putting 10% of your after tax income into savings and investments ($4,000 in our earlier example).

Just imagine . . .

Do your math homework and get frugal!  

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Bottled Water and Extreme Wastefulness
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Ways to Save Reviewed
Purchase Decisions: A Recap
Frugality and Changing Our Vocabulary . . .
How Do You Know If You Are Frugal?